R1,000 for a video game has become a normal expense for South African gamers

[Swa]

I was saying that spending so little time playing games makes someone barely a gamer. It had nothing to do with Game Pass and more to do with game subscription services.

And that's because there's a basic assumption that these subscription services target gamers looking to accumulate games on an ongoing basis. Your circumstance is a hazy mix of having previously spent a lot of money on hundreds of games, games you don't seem overly interested in (or you'd be playing them) and also that your propensity to spend additional funds on games is close to zero. That's hardly a common scenario.

Game Pass isn't about waiting to be told what to play. You just play. There are always awesome games, and whatever falls outside that is generally an infrequent outlier (like my Cyberpunk preorder).

I mean, what exactly would Game Pass need to offer you to be compelling enough to pay for? Every game on the planet? Permanent access after downloading something, even if you discontinue your subscription?

From my perspective, you sound like those people who doubted the benefits of music streaming services when they were still gaining traction. Moaning that they didn't spend R720 a year on music currently and that Apple Music or whatever, is therefore a sham to extract more money. It's just so far removed from why people love those services and how people engage with them.

Your incorrect assumption is that it has anything to do with time. It doesn't. It has to do with the fact I've spent a lot less money on a lot more games. How you can't see that as a plus is beyond me. In fact I'd say it's the opposite, the more time you spend playing non-new titles the less subscription makes sense.

Music streaming is different in that it offers someone with a wide music taste a lot more than buying songs outright. Game subscription doesn't. Even music streaming isn't really as popular as buying single songs or albums. I think you're confusing the two here and if I'm not mistaken Apple Music also offers the latter.

Game subscription is aimed at getting the average Joe using it to spend more on an otherwise smaller selection of games. Publishers would not want to offer something that results in less spending.

 

[Johnatan56]

R1,000 for a video game has become a normal expense for South African gamers

The overall decline of the South African rand means gamers have become used to the prices of video games, consoles, and other hardware increasing over time.

Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have affected prices even more, with the cost of PC hardware components increasing notably since the beginning of the year.

Where exactly did you pull this fact from?

I've probably spent the most money I ever have on PC games on Steam, yet I still have yet to purchase a game over ~R500, there are so many good games on special that paying R1k for a game that's okay is not worth it, most AAA games nowadays just keep recycling the same old formula without taking risks because it sells.

And a majority of "gamers" on PC will be playing games like LoL, Dota, Smite and CS:GO. Looking at my Steam friends list, of 6 people playing a game right now, only one game is over R500 at the moment and I'm pretty sure he picked it up on special when it was ~R200.

 

[Swa]

Where exactly did you pull this fact from?

I've probably spent the most money I ever have on PC games on Steam, yet I still have yet to purchase a game over ~R500, there are so many good games on special that paying R1k for a game that's okay is not worth it, most AAA games nowadays just keep recycling the same old formula without taking risks because it sells.

And a majority of "gamers" on PC will be playing games like LoL, Dota, Smite and CS:GO. Looking at my Steam friends list, of 6 people playing a game right now, only one game is over R500 at the moment and I'm pretty sure he picked it up on special when it was ~R200.

Most AAA titles lately have just been half finished games with a bunch of DLC that costs multiple times the price of the base game. No thanks. I'll wait 5 years and then buy the whole thing at a big discount.

 

[|tera|]

Most AAA titles lately have just been half finished games with a bunch of DLC that costs multiple times the price of the base game. No thanks. I'll wait 5 years and then buy the whole thing at a big discount.

DLC prices are insane.
Fitgirl loves me though

 

[WesleyDB]

Most AAA titles have been around R1000 for a few years already.

Interestingly enough, I was watching a documentary recently and one of the observations they made was the price of video games and the price of cocaine is the only things which the price has remained constant for the last few years.

 

[Puffy_Nipples]

Game passes make it manageable RIP ps5 game prices. Got a few weeks lighter than normal buy a pass and play the game when it's done move on

 

[Cactus]

All I really want is cheaper Switch games or a EA like subscription service for Nintendo

 

[wbot]

I almost never buy a game at launch price anymore. Just wait till they're cheap or even free. I think the last game I bought on the day it was released was GTAV. And it wasn't even planned. I remember btgames opened at 6am just for GTAV and I just happened to be there so I thought why not. That was about R700 i think

 

[RedViking]

Only buy when on 70% sale.


/Steam for the win.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Nope.

It’s Game Pass or super sales combined with Game Sharing.

In fact we are spending less now than ever.

 

[whatwhat]

Buy 3 years of Xbox Gold
Take the 1 free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate trial
It upgrades to 3 years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
???
Profit.

 

[Progenix Oj101]

I miss the days of paying R 199 for AAA-titles, R 40 for EA Classics, and R 120-150 for anything in between. These days I don't even give buying games a second thought, with the lack of replayability I rather think about it for a second then fire up my old SLI rig for some really old school gaming. 20-25 years later and there's still replayability.

 

[SNLV30]

Not sure if this is the right thread to post this but it seems like the most relevant.

I sold some CSGo skins to buy RDR2, it is 33% off now on steam so I can only afford the base version. I never bought any games when Steam has their black Friday spesials..should I wait till then?..whats the odds that I could get the Special of even Ultimate edition for the price of the base game then?..Is it even worth it?

 

[Polymathic]

I miss the days of paying R 199 for AAA-titles, R 40 for EA Classics, and R 120-150 for anything in between. These days I don't even give buying games a second thought, with the lack of replayability I rather think about it for a second then fire up my old SLI rig for some really old school gaming. 20-25 years later and there's still replayability.

Console Games at R399 seemed like a rip-off and all other classic, lol but the PlayStation Platinum at R150 to R200 made getting a PS tempting.

 

[Lupus]

Console Games at R399 seemed like a rip-off and all other classic, lol but the PlayStation Platinum at R150 to R200 made getting a PS tempting.

Yeah when it was only 2 bucks to a dollar ps games were cheap. I mean top end GFX cards were only R3000.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Not sure if this is the right thread to post this but it seems like the most relevant.

I sold some CSGo skins to buy RDR2, it is 33% off now on steam so I can only afford the base version. I never bought any games when Steam has their black Friday spesials..should I wait till then?..whats the odds that I could get the Special of even Ultimate edition for the price of the base game then?..Is it even worth it?

Steam always have sales, but they don't necessarily have a big sale on Black Friday or Cybermonday (some publishers will have specials), but the next big sale is Halloween (Oct/Nov, probably 2 weeks).

 

[SNLV30]

Steam always have sales, but they don't necessarily have a big sale on Black Friday or Cybermonday (some publishers will have specials), but the next big sale is Halloween (Oct/Nov, probably 2 weeks).

Thank you..that's just around the corner so will rather hold on to my money for now and hope for the best.

 

[Solitude]

Thank you..that's just around the corner so will rather hold on to my money for now and hope for the best.

Personally, I doubt you'll get it cheaper this year.

Looking at steamdb, it's currently the cheapest it's ever been:

Red Dead Redemption 2 · AppID: 1174180

Winner of over 175 Game of the Year Awards and recipient of over 250 perfect scores, RDR2 is the epic tale of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the infamous Van der Linde gang, on the run across America at the dawn of the modern age. Also includes access to the shared living world of Red Dead Online. Red...

steamdb.info

Of course I'll say something like that and then it's suddenly free on the Epic Store or something.

 

[Swa]

Yeah when it was only 2 bucks to a dollar ps games were cheap. I mean top end GFX cards were only R3000.

Were there any gfx cards when it was R2 to a Dollar?

Personally, I doubt you'll get it cheaper this year.

Looking at steamdb, it's currently the cheapest it's ever been:

Red Dead Redemption 2 · AppID: 1174180

Winner of over 175 Game of the Year Awards and recipient of over 250 perfect scores, RDR2 is the epic tale of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the infamous Van der Linde gang, on the run across America at the dawn of the modern age. Also includes access to the shared living world of Red Dead Online. Red...

steamdb.info

Of course I'll say something like that and then it's suddenly free on the Epic Store or something.

It's nearing its one year anniversary so discount may get bigger.

 

[SNLV30]

Personally, I doubt you'll get it cheaper this year.

Looking at steamdb, it's currently the cheapest it's ever been:

Red Dead Redemption 2 · AppID: 1174180

Winner of over 175 Game of the Year Awards and recipient of over 250 perfect scores, RDR2 is the epic tale of outlaw Arthur Morgan and the infamous Van der Linde gang, on the run across America at the dawn of the modern age. Also includes access to the shared living world of Red Dead Online. Red...

steamdb.info

Of course I'll say something like that and then it's suddenly free on the Epic Store or something.

I know right..or in 2 weeks there is a price increase of 33% if I don't buy it now. It's a gamble..I will just wait out this 2 weeks an hope for the best.